Dated from my last hospitalization (12/31/2007), I've been on Lexapro, an SSRI antidepressant. It's not caused any major side effects so I'm happy.

How's the med working for you today? Ever have trouble with Social Anxiety? Does it really help well for that and general anxiety? I know this isn't a known med for ADHD, but does it help in any area with your symptoms? Thanks Net.

D

I find that it helps with depression and anxiety. Does more for my depression than anxiety though.

Yeah, I have pretty high anxiety now. That's one of my main concerns at the moment, is getting out of that rut.

Thanks for the info net.

D

No problem. I hear Lexapro is an excellent medication for anxiety and having taken and am taking it, it does help with anxiety.

Lexapro is good for my depression, but if it's helping with my anxiety, I'm afraid of how high it would be without it! It does not help with add at all. At least not mine.

Yeah, I didn't think it was an ADD help drug. I am mostly concerned with my anxiety levels. Thanks to both of you for the feedback.

No problem. Happy to help :)

I found Lexapro great for my anxiety--I've got mostly OCD-type obsessions, and it really helped those. I used to constantly have thoughts telling me to do terrible or vulgar things, and I rarely have that anymore. It also balances out the effects of Ritalin nicely (when I went off it and kept taking Ritalin I went a little nuts) which Dr. Daniel Amen confirms in Change Your Brain, Change Your Life; apparently because the stimulants screw with neurotransmitter reuptake, they can upset the balance of serotonin and cause someone with OCD tendencies to go haywire, and an SSRI can restore that balance. I also felt less depressed after I took it. I don't consider myself as having major depression, though; I've got Seasonal Affective Disorder and I was also suffering from the secondary effects of having undiagnosed ADD for 22 years. So frankly I don't know how good it is for that; all I know is that being on it helps me feel like myself and it doesn't cause any side effects.
Someone I know takes it for GAD, and she likes it for that too.

I have not be officially dx with add but I sure do have it. I've been on Lexapro since Oct, right after my second son was born and it has helped a good bit with anxiety and fatigue. The therapist I saw at the time said that he believed the fatigue was due to depression... now I'm wondering because the Lexapro does not seem to be working anymore. It helps slightly, but my ob/gyn upped the meds from 10 to 15 and there has been little change in the fatigue. The add has been running rampant all this time and I just read Daniel Amen's book (great book) which confirms the add and the fact that the ssri makes the dopamine less which makes the add worse... ugh!! I have an appt with my therapist Monday... haven't seen him since Sept of last year.... I certainly hope we can get this fatigue and add under control. It is really a quality of life issue for me... add bites!

Well,
...For those that lexipro is working for, don't read this.
I'm very happy for you.


For me..

week I

started with vivid nightmares of me living like a cockroach on the streets of las vegas..

...waking up depressed, hopeless, teary and feeling like a human waste of flesh.

I was nausious, and has a headache on the right temple like a bubble was growing there...

week II

....the insomnia came.

with insomnia, irritability, and missing the point of peoples posts.

you know how intuative I am?

....well, when I read a post, it's 40% "feeling" what you write, and 60% understanding the words you write.

I was missing both marks.\

I shot two people in chat by accident.
and had to be told, I was completely off the mark.
....thet they did'nt mean what I interpreted it as.

for example..
...a guy said "my GFs eyes dialate when she looks at me, why?"

I said, she might be thinking of you naked.
....thinking sexual thoughts will dialate your eyes.

he said "what kind of drugs is she on?"

I said FUKYOU ***! I'm not on drugs I'm in recovery!
....you wanna kiss my ***? bla!


...uh, suz.
he means what kind of drugs is his GF on to do that to her eyes!

so I apologized.
....did it one more time and left.

and did it to my mom left and right..

so...
...in addition to that, I started getting the "thump"
instead of an orgasm.

...then it said, looking for drivers, cannot find server, page cannot be displayed, try again later, hit refresh.

so I was walking around with a black scribble, in my thought bubble.

by week III

I broke out in fever blisters...
....five on one side of my mouth.
.a cyst in the crack, where your underware elastic goes around your leg.
....very uncomfotable.
my face was getting little red bumps..
....I never had that with meth!
and I onl had fever blisters when I did meth.

I was afraid to TRY to orgasm.
...the "thump" reminds me of nails on a chalkbard, or pressing your nipple in directly, like a button and feeling the grissle..*shivers*

I still had the headache and nausia...
.....but new thoughts were creeping in like.

I hope it's a brain tumor and it kills me.
.....maybe I'm dying.

I wish I'd die.

maybe I'll lay in the woods and see if something like a brown recluse will bite me so I can die.

I finally called my dr.
....he said take half for 4 days and stop.

I just stopped.

lemmie tell you.
....I'M CURED!!!

I'm the happiest, most radient, good natured, intuative well adjusted person in this world!

I'm like that little bouncing happy head on the paxil commercails..
boucing around butterflies and smiling.
......and my orgasms are as intense and colorful as yellow submarine!

......I've NEVER had such complete, intense and satisfying
gasms in my life!

.....I'm very, very happy to be alive!
I'm not giving a shyt about meth lately.

SO in conclution..

LEXAPRO cured my depression, it gave me something to cry about!

now I understand how bad impotence is!
.....Gawd I'm sorry for them dudes!

now I'm not impotent...
...............I'm important!

"black, white green, red, can I take my friend to bed? red green, orange and blue I love you!
all together now! all together now! all together now! all together now!"

---a very happy beatles song from yellow submarine.

The 'thump' sounds ... well... terrible!! I cannot even imagine what that is.. yikes... Anyway, VERY happy to hear that things are good again ;-) Sending happy vibes your way for staying away from the meth, I've heard it's h*ll. Rock On!!

I was on Lexapro for over a year... started out at 10mg, then 20mg, and finally was up to 40mg. I just started seeing a new doctor today for Medicine Management, and he was shocked that my psychiatrist kept me on 40mg of lexapro for such a long time. It worked well at first, but then the dosage increases never were really succesful.

Now im tapering off of the Lexapro, and starting on Cymbalta 30mg for a week, then up to 60mg. My mom was on lexapro for about a year too and it stopped working for her as well, she's been on cymbalta for a while now and loves it.

Also, my new psychiatrist said he doesnt prescribe lexapro in dosages more than 20mg, mainly because they studies performed never tested it in dosages more than 20mg. Another GREAT thing, lexapro is a tier 3 ($40 copay) on my insurance, and Cymbalta is tier 2 ($25).

Another thing, it KILLED my sex drive... thats one of the main concerns I brought up to my new doctor, and he said he wasn't surprised since sexual side effects have been shown at 10, and even higher at 20! So i guess, in closing, loved it at the start, but it definately went down with time. Good luck guys!